Former Test tearaway Jeff Thomson has urged injury-plagued Brett Lee to go back to doing what he does best - bowling as fast and frighteningly as humanly possible.

Lee's appearance for NSW in the Pura Cup match against South Australia from Friday will be his first serious hit-out of the summer and his only chance to secure a place in the first Test against New Zealand.

Thomson, the king of fast bowlers in terms of unadulterated pace, was disappointed with Lee's efforts during the Ashes as much for the readings on the speed gun as his figures.

Lee, previously clocked at 97mph, rarely broke out of the mid-80mph range in England and took only nine wickets in five Tests at an overblown average of 55.11.

The 25-year-old, returning from a side strain, is working with Dennis Lillee to make his action more technically correct like Glenn McGrath, but Thomson hopes Lee's greatest asset is not lost.

"He bowled very poorly in England," said Thomson.

"There were a few good spells in there but the rest was pretty average and the statistics showed that.

"It was back-to-the-rest-of-the-field stuff and that's not what he's there for.

"He's there to bowl fast, that's his job and that's what he should be doing."

The first Test against New Zealand starts at the Gabba on November 8 and Thomson expects the three-match series to be as lopsided as last summer's five-nil hammering of the West Indies.

"Yeah, I give New Zealand a chance," said Thomson.

"None.

"Look at the personnel on both teams ... how can they possibly beat us?"

Lee's slow start to the Ashes was excusable because he was returning from an elbow reconstruction, but then he suffered the side strain just when he was threatening to hit his straps.

He admitted his physical ailments were frustrating.

"It seems like every time I start getting it right something goes wrong, a little niggle somewhere, and then I'm back to square one," said Lee, who spent hours in the nets at the back of the SCG during the NSW-Tasmania match.

"But I feel good now, great."

NSW captain Shane Lee said his younger brother was "jumping out of his skin" to return to action for State and country.

Tasmania took two points from a Pura Cup match highlighted by a century in each innings from Test No.3 Ricky Ponting.

It was the fifth time Ponting had achieved the rare feat - once more than Sir Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Stuart Law and Jamie Cox.

The Blues skipper said his side may have been guilty of expecting McGrath to run through Tasmania, which went on to make 504 and secure first innings points.

"I think we were a bit flat out there," said Lee after his surprising decision to bowl on the first morning.

"I suppose the guys were thinking we've got Glenn McGrath in the side and Don Nash who bowls very well with the new ball ... I think we believed it was going to come a lot easier.

"We've got to lift a lot for the next game, we dropped five catches overall and that's too many in a first-class game."

The return of Brett Lee and fellow Ashes tourist Nathan Bracken against SA means either Nash or Stuart Clark will be omitted from the XI.

Clark would be unlucky because he bowled superbly in the first innings, taking 5-64 from 32 overs while his partners were being carted all over the park.

© 2001 AAP